Running Away, Moving On
by Andy-Qinwuxinbing
Summary: A week after the series finale, a phone call from afar explains everything. Spoiler alert. Martha/Clive.


A week after the series finale, a phone call from afar explains everything. Spoiler alert. Martha/Clive.

A/N: Yes the show ended with a lot not quite well explained and we need more. This is about what I think happened and would happen, what caused Martha to leave, and how their paths are never gonna cross again.

Please note that English is not my first language.

I don't own anything. I hope I do or Silk wouldn't end the way it did.

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**One week later.**

5AM (GMT, 0:00), Clive Reader's house, London

Everything is quite in the middle of the night, except for the light snoring of Clive. Oh, and the shifting of Harriot that caused the wood bed to creak a bit. And then the phone rang, sharp.

He raised an arm, reaching for the cell phone. Yet another slimmer arm stopped his motion," don't, turn it off." Herriot murmured.

"Right." He pressed _ignore, _and turned the phone off.

1PM (CCT, +08:00), A café in Hong Kong

Martha placed her burner phone down. She sighed. _Clive turned his phone off, just great._

She finished the latte, lost in thought once again. It'd been a lot the past week. She's tired, and devastated.

A short dark local Hong Kong guy with baseball cap and sunglasses came in the door, sit in front of her, reached into his pocked, and handed Martha an Australian passport. "There you go, Miss Wilson."

"Thanks." She didn't bother saying anything else, leaving an envelope on the table, then left.

Raising her hand to signal for a cab, she told herself she got to get in touch with Clive, before her new life actually begin. She needed to set things in order. She had to hear his voice, one last time, even if it's too early for him to be up back in London.

After all, you don't just walk away from your career, your friends, your success, and the one man you've been in love with for twenty years. You say goodbye, you don't disappear.

She never realized that she loved Clive until she found herself pregnant. Never in her life did she want to be a mother, until she realized how great it would have been, when he's the father. She could send him out at four AM for ice-cream because of the weird cravings. She could squeeze his hand so hard during delivery and shout "I hate you". She didn't get those chances, all because of one punch. Yet the second she buried her head in his chest on the steps of the courthouse, she felt a sense of belonging, the same she felt the first time she stepped foot in Shoe Lane years ago.

Shoe Lane, she left that behind too. It's a prosecution chamber now anyway. She shouldn't be missing that. Or so she tried to tell herself.

_Billy. No. No. No. Don't think about him. _

Tears dropped.

"Ma'am, the airport. We're here." The cab driver disturbed her thought.

3:30 PM (CCT, +8:00) outside Gate 42, Hong Kong International Airport

It's the far end of the giant airport, not so many people around. Martha stared outside the window, watching the Singapore Airline A380 taxing towards the boarding bridge.

"_Your attention please, Singapore Airlines flight 861 will start boarding soon. We apologize for the delay and thank you for your patience."_

Once again, she dialed the phone number she could recite backwards.

"What?" His voice was furious, just like he had always sounded when deprived of sleep.

"Clive, it's me." She could barely hear her own voice._ What am I gonna say anyway? Why on earth am I calling him?_

"Martha?" He didn't even try to hide the astonishment in his tone.

She didn't answer. Instead, a tear escaped.

"Where are you?"

"Airport."

"Alright, I'm coming to you, stay there." It sounded like a commend.

She chuckled, "I'm not in England, not anymore."

"What? Why?" Now he sounds hurt.

"It's complicated. I…I just need to talk with you."

"Sure." The calmness in his voice makes her feel safe, just like it always did.

Clive could distinguish a light sob from the other side of the line.

"What's going on, Martha?"

"Micky Joy is dead, isn't he?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Cause he told me to walk away, to run for my life."

"You're confusing me."

"The Monk family, they had him killed because he told the truth. After the jury came back with the verdict, Micky talked to me. Had I examined the jacket, Sean would have been free."

"What? I thought…"

"It's not your fault, Clive. If you came to me after finding it, I'd have been the one lying in the coroner's office. You did protect me."

"No, it's not right. It can't be."

"Clive, listen. Micky was right, it was all rotten, and I can't take it like everyone else, like it's a game. I would lose, bad. He was on the other side of the system, but he decided to tell the truth. He decided to die. He told me the key to appeal for Sean's case before he told me to run. The Monk family is not stupid. I am the next on their hit list. They simply need to send Sean away." Martha could feel herself trembling.

"Martha, you don't have to. There has to be other ways out."

"Maybe. But it doesn't matter anymore."

"Don't say that, Martha."

He could hear her laugh, with bitterness.

"You know what's funny? I felt homesick, for the first time in years."

"What does that say?"

"I'm exhausted, Clive. I don't know what I want anymore. I don't even know who I am."

"You, Martha Costello, are a fighter. You don't bail like this." He said in disbelief.

"I have nothing to fight for. Harriot made sure you would be the head of chambers. Shoe Lane would work only prosecution. There is no place for me."

"You are silk, in case you forgot. You can get a defending job elsewhere."

"And the system is still the way it was. You are not getting it, Clive. I can't stay. I don't belong."

He swallowed hard. He was about to lose her. No, scratch that, he had lost her already.

Silence on the line made both of them feel uncomfortable. It felt like years until Martha spoke up again. "How are you?"

"Good."

"And Harriot?"

He chuckled, "good, I guess."

"Billy?"

"He's hospitalized. Cancer had spread. Doctor said he only have a few weeks to go."

Tears threatened to fall form Martha's eyes.

Clive sensed the uneasiness of her and changed the subject;" Jake and Bethany got engaged the day before."

"Really? Send them my regards."

"I will."

Once again, silence fell between. Until…

"_Your attention please, passengers for Singapore Airlines flight 861 to Singapore is now starting boarding at gate 42."_

The announcement must have been loud, Martha thought. Cause Clive heard it.

"Singapore? It that where you are going?"

"It's just a connecting flight."

"Where then?"

"Don't, Clive."

"Don't what?"

"Nothing. Just don't want talk about it."

"Okey."

A few minute passed before she spoke again. "I'm terrified, Clive."

"What? Of the Monk family?"

Martha shook her head. Remembering he can't see, she quietly added,"No."

"What then?"

Something is odd with his voice. It's not what Clive Reader usually sounds like. Something unfamiliar. Something like worry, something like care. Something, probably called love.

"Life."

"You'll be alright, Martha. Wherever you are."

She tried to squeeze a smile but failed. _Well, it's not like he can see me anyway._

"What am I gonna do? I'm not Martha Costello anymore. I'm not a barrister anymore."

"New identity, huh?"

She shrugged. _He can't see you, idiot._

For a moment, all he could hear was her steady breathing sound.

"_Your attention please, this is the last boarding call for Singapore Airlines flight 861 to Singapore. Passengers please proceed to gate 42 immediately._"

"Don't go, Martha."

"I have to. It's not just what Micky joy said. I've been having doubts. And working Sean's case let me see clearly that I have buried who I actually am too deep down. I'm still the girl I was 22years ago. I still want a clean and simple life. Maybe just not the success part anymore. Justice and fairness are something I am too insignificant to chase after. Maybe I just need to move on." She stopped her effortless attempt to avoid her tears from falling.

And the clear sobbing of Martha Costello broke Clive Reader's heart.

"I love you." He blurted out.

She smiled. They are the right ones for each other. They just don't belong together. She had known this for years. And now, it's time to say goodbye.

"I'll miss you, Clive."

"_Your attention please, passengers Chung Mei, Tsai Wei, Kathryn Wilson, Laura Herrmann, Please proceed to Gate 42 immediately. Singapore Airlines flight 861 is about to take off."_

She had to go. Just hang up the damn phone!

Clive teased from the other side,"so, are you Laura or Kathryn now?"

More tears came down her pale face. "I…I need to go now."

"Martha…"

"Promise me something."

"Anything."

"Don't ever try to find me."

"But…"

"Promise me!"She found herself using the tone she had only used on court, when facing a lying witness.

"I promise." There is disappointment in his voice, no doubt. And despair.

Clive heard footsteps. Martha was approaching the boarding gate.

"I love you, Clive."

Before he could reply, or even think of anything to reply, the line was dead.

Martha tossed the phone away before stepped into the aircraft. She went towards her seat, ignoring the weird glances the flight attendants and other passengers throwing her way for her teary face.

It's a clean break. It's what I need to do if I am to start a new life. She told herself the same thing over and over. Yet it still hurt, like hell.

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Thank you for reading. Please review.


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